Anti-gun groups demand action

Congressional Democrats and anti-gun groups sought to renew their push for Congress to pass a background check bill in the wake of the killings this week of 12 people at the Washington Naval Yard.

On Wednesday, lawmakers, the Newtown Action Alliance and Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America were officially set to observe the nine-month anniversary of the killings of 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

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But Monday’s spasm of violence just a few blocks from the Capitol offered new impetus for congressional gun reform advocates to push for 60 votes in the Senate and a House majority to support background checks at gun shows and shops.

Now, families of people killed in Newtown, Chicago, Aurora, Colo., and in other mass shootings will fan out around the Capitol for the rest of the week to make their case directly to those who have voted against background check legislation that they support.

On Tuesday evening, the House held a moment of silence to remember the dead at Navy Yard. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Congress may not deserve to hold such rememberances if it cannot move gun legislation.

“We’re almost unworthy of that tradition to think that moment of silence can make us feel better. When the fact is we don’t need a moment of silence, we need a day of action,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi urged that a bill from Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.) mandating background checks be put on the floor, predicting passage if it saw the light of day.

“This could in fact pass. And we cannot let up until it does. And to my friends in the majority who are refusing to bring this up for a vote: If you’ve got a better idea, dammit, show it to us,” Thompson said to hearty applause.

Pelosi and Thompson joined with the families of gun victims and Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Reps. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) and Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.). Murphy and Blumenthal, often the face of gun legislation in Congress after the Newtown shootings, predicted eventual Senate victory, where background check legislation fell five votes short.

“We will prevail. History is on our side,” Blumenthal said.

“How many people have to lose their lives before we realize we have an obligation to stop this? Something is broken with democracy when 90 percent of the American public thinks that people should get a background check before they buy a gun,” Murphy said.

Members of Congress alternated their remarks with the families of those killed in shootings. Those first-person accounts of those lost produced tears from Kelly, Pelosi and many of the event’s attendees.

“I come down because I don’t want another family to be going through what I’m going through now,” said Carlos Soto of his lobbying of Congress in D.C. His sister was killed in Connecticut.

“Everyone wants to talk about the Second Amendment, right? What about our children? They have a right to live,” said Sandra Robinson, whose 18-year-old son was killed in Chicago in 2010.